


Halloween

by 1307



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-31
Updated: 2015-10-31
Packaged: 2018-04-29 01:46:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5111822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1307/pseuds/1307
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Daryl has always loved Halloween, but he loves it even more now that he has a family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Halloween

**Author's Note:**

> Just a small drabble about Bethyl taking their baby out trick or treating :)  
> Also points to me for the most original title ever!

Halloween had always been Daryl’s favorite holiday. It started when his mother was still alive. The year before she would take them to store the first week of November to get Daryl and Merle a costume when it was over half off for next year—the selection was slim, but Daryl could always find something good if he used his imagination. 

On October first he’d dig out his new costume and made sure it fit, his mother would safety pin together if it was too big. Then on Halloween, Daryl’s mom would drive Daryl and Merle to the nice neighborhoods and let the run wild, getting the most candy they could. After they finished she took to them to the next neighborhood, then the one after that. Merle and Daryl laughing in the backseat the whole way. Truthfully, it was one of the few times during the year they actually had fun—Will wasn’t around, so it was just the three of them. No asshole to ruin the party.

After their mother died, Daryl was off to fend on his own, he had no extra money for costumes, but lucky for him he was the smaller of the two boys and could fit into Merle’s old ones with ease. He was no longer able to go to the fancy pants neighborhoods of the past, but made due with the middle class subdivision four blocks down from his own crumbling trailer park. 

As he got older and moved away from the abuse of Will Dixon, he got more into it, saving extra money all year to buy candy to the kids in his neighborhood. It was then that he realized why he liked Halloween so much, it was the only holiday he really got to participate in. They never had a real Thanksgiving meal, never had a real Christmas or Santa Claus, at least not after his mother died. She always tried to have her kids have a nice time during the holidays. She took them to a church on Thanksgiving to have the meal with the other people in the community who couldn’t afford it on their own, she signed them up for the giving tree at the community center. She tried, she put in the effort that Will refused to.

When he met Beth he finally got real Thanksgivings and real Christmases with his new family—the Greenes—Annette always being sure to make his favorite desserts, making sure he had plenty of leftovers to take back to his apartment before he and Beth got married, they always got him presents for Christmas, even when he and Beth had only been dating for a month, but Halloween always held a special place in his heart. 

This was his first Halloween as a parent, their son Oliver had entered the world six months ago, and Beth had been planning his costume ever since she found out she was pregnant. It wasn’t what Daryl wanted, which would be a badass pirate or a dragon. Beth had insisted that his first Halloween be something cute, something not scary, but instead absolutely adorable. 

So she picked a gnome. 

A fucking gnome, the least adorable thing on the planet. He hated gnomes, she knew this, but she loved them. So Oliver _had_ to be a gnome and they _had_ to wear matching hats when they took him around to their neighbors houses to show him off. 

“I don’t think he likes the eyebrows.” Maggie sighs across from Beth, her left hand holding Oliver still and her right with a small white worm shape made of felt. 

“He has to wear them.” Beth sets the camera down and takes the eyebrow from her sister. “It’s essential to the costume!” 

Glenn plops on the couch next to his brother-in-law, slice of pizza in hand. “I don’t blame him, I’d rip those off, too.” 

Daryl grunts out a laugh. “Anything for a picture.” 

“I think your fifteen photo albums from just two and a half years together proves that.” 

“I don’t think she’d make it through the day without taking a damn picture.” 

Oliver starts to cry from the table and Daryl lets out a sigh as Beth picks him up and rubs his back. 

-=-

She finally got the damn picture, Oliver lying on their Halloween table cloth, a grumpy look on his face with his gnome costume. Daryl did have to admit, the little coat was cute. Handcrafted by Beth, it was dark blue and nearly swallowed him up. He had little red pants, and black booties crocheted by Annette. The hat was red like the pants, made of felt with a detachable beard. He was still kind of iffy on it, but it was less scary since it was his son. 

Shortly after Eric and Aaron showed up with their son Henry and daughter Nora. Nora was six months old as well, and dressed as a fairy, so of course Beth had to take photos of the two babies in their costumes, and she couldn’t miss getting some of three year old Henry in his cowboy outfit, too. 

Henry was jumping at the bit to go get candy, pulling on his red headed dad’s arm and bouncing up and down, the fringe of his vest flopping up and down as he begged.

Leaving a small bucket of candy with a note saying to take one and they’ll be back later, they were off. Beth made her and Daryl each a gnome hat, but Daryl pawned his off on Uncle Glenn, saying it made his ears too warm, which wasn’t a complete lie. 

Henry and Aaron led the pack, the pink sky in front of them as Henry pull Aaron down the sidewalk to the house on the Dixon’s street. 

Oliver was in Daryl’s arms, facing outward at the lights and inflatables, occasionally pointing to something, smiling and laughing as Beth or Maggie told him what he was laughing at. They arrive at the first house and Aaron nearly falls from Henry pulling him up the sidewalk to the door, eagerly yelling ‘trick or treat’ before selecting a piece of candy from Mrs. Neudermeyer’s basket and Aaron reminding him to say thank you, which he then yells and hurries back down the side walk. 

-=-

They walked around for thirty minutes, showing Oliver off to their neighbors, the Horvaths and Ms. Peletier. They saw the Grimes five houses down, Lori standing on the side walk carefully watching Carl take his little sister up to the Stookeys to get their candy. Rick and Daryl had to talk five minutes about the problem with Rick’s cars. Beth wasn’t listening, truthfully. 

-=-

Aaron and Eric left shortly after they returned to the Dixon’s house—their children were getting cranky, Nora needed to sleep and Henry worn out from running around the neighborhood. Maggie and Glenn left after trick or treating was over, Glenn sneaking some of the leftover candy into Maggie’s purse for later. 

Oliver got his bath and was snuggled into his camo sleeper fifteen minutes after Maggie and Glenn left, a new record. 

While Beth was bathing their baby, Daryl popped some popcorn in the microwave and drizzled some melted butter on top and got the couch ready for their marathon of paranormal shows—a tradition started on their first Halloween. He got the quilt Annette made them for their wedding present and laid it on the couch so Beth could snuggle under it and cuddle up to Daryl while Oliver sucked away on his dinner. 

She’s still wearing that ridiculous hat when she comes in, Oliver wrapped in his elephant blanket, his little hands patting lightly at Beth’s arm as she grabs her water cup from the counter and walks over to their small couch and plops on, smiling as Daryl brings the popcorn and leftover candy to their coffee table—his beer already cracked on the side table.

Beth holds Oliver against her and snuggles under the blanket, watching as Daryl sits down and puts his feet on the coffee table, next to their snacks. She immediately snuggles into his side and waits for him to turn the TV on.

-=-

Every time something remotely spooky happens, she gasps, just like every year, and snuggles closer, just like every year. 

This time they have Oliver in the mix who hinders the cuddles just a bit as he eats his dinner, not a care in the world. 

Beth only makes it through an episode and a half before passing out on Daryl’s shoulder, he doesn't mind, he loves feeling Beth on him, hearing her soft snores. The same sounds escape their son's mouth as he lies on her chest. 

-=-

In a few short years, it’ll be him and Beth taking their brood of children (if Beth gets her way—which she usually does) on a trip to the fancy neighborhoods just outside of Atlanta so their kids can get the full size candy bars and maybe even a few dollars, but until then, this will be his favorite Halloween. Even with the costume and the hat and Beth falling asleep before making it to the good episodes, he got to watch his child laugh at lights and spend time with the people he cared about most. It really didn’t get much better than that.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Halloween!


End file.
